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Taksim Urban Design Competition

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A Forest for Istanbul

Taksim Urban Design Competition

7D9G2LU5

Content Concept

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Perspectives

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Elevation

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Section

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Organisation

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Appendix: Site Plan

Taksim Urban Design Competition

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Fig. 1: Heinrich Tessenow, Landesschule Klotzsche, Dresden, 1920.

Fig. 2: Central Park, New York.

Gezi Park can be seen as Istanbul’s empty centre. Destined to be at the heart of the city’s civic life, it is at the moment on the verge of urban desertification. The main goal of our architectural redesign of the area is to invite the people of Istanbul back into Gezi Park.

It characterizes the neighbourhood next the park that here, the whole of Istanbul’s population, in all its facets — facets all too often separated through the city’s polycentric structure —, comes together. It is in this neighbourhood, therefore, where the population can, and should be given a shared space to gather and to display its manifold, if not contradictory facets; a space which allows for resting, finding comfort, and peacefully making contact with each other; a space counterbalancing as much as completing the hyper-urban structure of the neighbourhood.

We propose to reverse the on-going process of urban desertification in Gezi Park not by abolishing, but by enforcing the area’s botanic character: in our vision, it shall be re-cultivated into an inner city forest.

The idea of the forest, comforting and enchanting, rich in natural forms and variations, giving shadow and cool, has a highly archetypical character. It is our hope that it will thereby be apt to appeal to all of Istanbul’s population; that it will hold for everyone an element, an aspect, an association or memory which they can relate to; that it will, thus, invite and welcome Istanbul as a whole, and repopulate this deserted, yet central place of the city.

shall become a place for participation, debate, interaction, even contradiction.

The design of the park’s afforestation will facilitate this. Rather than following an accurate geometric pattern, Gezi Park’s new, carefully cultivated botanic richness shall produce a loose and delicate web of density and openness, of light and shadow, of intimacy and publicity. The thickness of the wood will be pierced by a number of clearings, which function as squares, as little theatres for the meeting and self-expression of the people entering the park, giving room for performances, exhibitions, discussions, events, as well as for recreational and commercial use, and sheer idleness, transforming the park into a manifold stage for the Istanbul’s characters, opinions, and needs.

The city surrounds the park. To express this fact, the park will be framed by a ribbon of houses, courts, arcades, both public and private — a permeable wall with a city-like structure. It gives the park limit and protection and concentrates the city’s life at its borders. On its outside it creates long pedestrian roads, in a via grande fashion. It is cut by a number of openings, which function as gates, as easy and welcoming entries to the park.

This frame contains the park from three of its sides. The front side of the park however, touching on Taksim square, lacks a limiting architectural element. The park freely flows into the square, with no gate, no wall channelling or hindering the exchange between the two spaces. Large steps, repeating floral elements of the park, lead it into the square, inviting once more for resting, meeting, communicating. This gives the park (which was formerly being used as a military quarter, the access to which was naturally restricted for the public) an overwhelming, almost monumental sense

Gezi Park is still haunted by the echoes of past and recent conflict and social movement.

It calls for being a place where the people can gather again. It ought not to be a place for mere relaxation and botanic admiration; it

Concept

of openness, and it is through this generous, ‘larger than life’ entry that the transformation of character and spirit of the park is perhaps illustrated best.

Taksim square itself is filled with evocations of political history even more intensely than Gezi Park. Our plan explicitly abstains from adding to the gravitas of the square’s symbolism; it will, specifically, not interfere with the cultural centre which is to be built on it.

Yet it attempts at harmonising the square in urbanist terms, completing and closing it with the symbolically neutral, functionally flexible, if powerful architectural form of a tower.

While our proposal only very modestly rearranges the design of Taksim square, it thoroughly redefines appearance and function of Gezi Park. Traditionally, the typology of the central urban square could be understood as a metonymical image of the world as a whole.

Certainly Istanbul is a comprehensive mirror-image of Turkey’s, and more than Turkey’s culture, history, and demography. Our plan will create a central new image of Istanbul — an inner city forest, framed by urban typologies, that invites for participation and interaction, and that will be cultivated and will flourish under the direction of Istanbul’s people themselves.

The Curated Forest — A Living Landmark Through the cultivation of a natural forest, we aim to reconstruct and resurrect a piece of landscape, an ensemble of flora and fauna which, in another area of Istanbul, has been lost with the building of the new airport. The afforestation of Gezi Park also heavily reso-

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Taksim Urban Design Competition

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Fig. 3: Gardens of Candy, Levni, Surname-i Vehbi, TSM A3593, 161b.

Fig. 4: Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979–2005.

Fig. 5: Jeppe Hein, Follow Me, Bristol, 2009.

nates with its recent history, the movements and ideas connected to it. Gezi Park will, with the help of its visitors, regain its space; it will be reintegrated into the city. At the heart of the unique neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, the park will present an inclusive space for the people populating it, offering an atmospheric symbiosis of nature, culture, and art.

with the title of Hide & Peek, specifically for this place.

It deals with the cultural and historical implications of the symbol of the tulip, and the motive of the garden, touching on the topics of militarism and (neo-)ottomanism. It includes questions of public space, re- and overwriting of history and histories, and the rooting of society in these histories.

park-like, unstained, e.g. at Bosporus or on the Princes’ Islands, belong to military authorities, and are inaccessible to the public. Gezi Park itself was for a long time in use for military housing and exercising. Turkish military, as one of the legacies bequeathed by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, for a long time symbolized, and understood itself as an institution guaranteeing and protecting modern democracy and laicism. The flowery, unsuspected camouflage pattern of Hide & Peek, far from passing any unequivocal message onto its visitors, rather invites them, following their personal experiences, ideas, and associations, to reflect upon the place and meaning Turkish military has in their collective memory, as well as to dwell on the evocations of cultural and national heritage that the symbol of the tulip implies.

The conceived new buildings surrounding the park aim for a co-inspiring and synergetic spatial exchange between the buildings and the park they enclose. Significant parts shall be dedicated to traditional and contemporary arts. Affordable, yet representative spaces for rent, at the heart of Istanbul, shall be given to young and innovative galleries; studios shall welcome local, Turkish, and international artists, musicians, architects, possibly in form of subsidised residencies. This part of the building will be open to the public, so that visitors, all while relishing the view over the city and its new park area, can take a free walk through a multitude of exhibitions and artistic spaces. Joining rooms designated to a great variety of functions and experiences, with a special focus on a culturally and artistically engaged program, this place will become a fascinating transcultural urban oasis, a new landmark of the cultural metropolis Istanbul represents.

It is a foundational idea of our proposal that these artistic activities shall branch out into the inner city forest. As natural as the forest park may seem, it is none the less curated.

Public art will, in temporary exhibitions, be resident in the park.

By the time the redesigned park areal opens, the first artwork shall be realised and presented. As visual artist, I wish to dedicate a work,

Concept

I aim to grow a large bed of tulips in the new inner city forest of Gezi Park, the blossoms of which will form a camouflage pattern. However, instead of a typical camouflage colouring, colours of dark violet, pink, and yellowish white will light up from the flowers.

Paths lead alongside the spots of this pattern, allowing for movement within an ensemble of little floral islands.

The symbol of the tulips alludes to a complex web of references and associations. The tulip is the unofficial symbol of Turkey. Since Ottoman time it carries the name of lale. The word itself forms part of the name of God, and thus came to signify paradise and eternal life.

The tulip was introduced from Persia into the Ottoman empire in the 15th century. The love of tulips, and artful gardening in general peaked under the regency of Sultan Ahmed III. This epoch, described as tulip period, is seen as an era of cultural blossoming, opening up, and diversity, showing a proliferation of book printing and miniature painting. Its art of gardening too was regarded as revolutionary.

The public park developed into being a place of contact, exchange, even flirt beyond the limitations of class. Garden, forest, park could be understood as paradise-like miniatures, as inspiring visions of an embellished reality.

In contemporary Istanbul, admirable spots,

Hide & Peek hence presents a very intricate weaving of symbols, gestures, and histories, a cohort of tulips, sparkling with references, latent significances, hints, coming together in a poetic narration open for a broad audience’s reactions, thoughts, and own re-narrations.

The famous tulip festival offers itself as a simultaneous event the creation of this artwork can correspond with, since a crucial part of the process of creating Hide & Peek will consist in collaborating with local businesses and workers, the likes of gardeners, landscape artists, and dealers and suppliers of tulips.

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Taksim Urban Design Competition

Perspective: View from Taksim Square towards the forest

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Perspective: View from Cumhuriyet Street towards Taksim Square

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Taksim Urban Design Competition

Perspective: Inside the forest

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Taksim Urban Design Competition

Perspective: View from the terrace towards the Bosporus

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Perspective: View from the arcade into the forest

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Taksim Urban Design Competition

Perspective: View towards Taksim Square above the trees

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Perspective: View of the terraces from Asker Ocagi Street

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Taksim Urban Design Competition

South Elevation: View from Taksim Square, scale 1:1.000

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Section North-South: View of Arcades towards the Park, scale 1:1.000

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Taksim Urban Design Competition

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Professional architect Project author Idea and concept, architectural design, initiative, organization, …

Professional architect Project author Idea and concept, architectural design, initiative, organization, …

Professional architect Project author Idea and concept, architectural design, initiative, organization, …

Historian, sociologist Adviser Historical and sociological research, text work, contextualisation, …

Artist Project co-author Conception and design of artistic project “Hide & Peek”, conception of “The Curated Forest – A Living Landmark”, …

Professional Urban Planner Adviser Supportive advice on urban conception, contextualisation, …

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Awaiting the competition results of stage 1, we are currently thinking about other disciplines to join our team…

Organisation

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